I have a BlitzRC Golden Contra which is a Walkera V200D02. Now that I have learned more of how to fly it, I love this bird! I've crashed a few times & used Walkera parts (because their cheaper than Banana Hobby parts (their brand is BlitzRCWorks). My friend has a CB180Z & loves his, if fact he strictly loves the Walkera brand. I own a 120sr & a Msr. The Msr is tame, good for indoors, but the 120sr is garbage! IMO Blade's QA on their electronics doesn't exist. I've had to replace boards & servos for whatever reason just dies or worked erratically! As a Blade owner, I think Walkera makes a better product in the same class of heli.

I've been flying Walkera stuff since late 2009 (I "think"........could be the dementia!) and if I think about the issues and opinions expressed since that time, nothing much has changed except the names of the people who post. People have pretty much commented on the same things and issues from the beginning. Camps were always divided between "These Walkeras are really cleverly designed, cost effective to own and operate, I own 144 of 'em and I love 'em" to "These Walkeras are cleverly designed, I can't keep up with all the model changes, I can't buy enough parts to keep one in the air, I hate 'em and I'll never buy another one".

It's really only since the advent of the V120D02S that there's been gen'l agreement that Walkera has finally introduced a more refined and reliable heli...............and even then opinions vary widely. There's even been at least some evidence (at the dealer level) that Walkera has actually began to empathize with its customers and respond accordingly. People in the States here are more or less used to "truth in advertising" and at least "some" level of quality control and customer service so Walkera at least seems to have forced broader interpretations of those requirements. For instance, we now know that "RTF" really means "WTF"....................."What The......??"

Mikey2,

I love the way you put things in perspective. I am a great fan of your eloquent writing.

I thought I was just lucky, I have not run into very many defective parts either. I too was a huge consumer of v120d02 parts. All that comes to mind is an out of round main gear. I don't think I even bothered to send it back.

My first V120D02S had a faulty RX that resulted in the elevator servo pulling down. At first I thought it was a vibe induced gyro creep, but I spend weeks fine tuning the balance-- to the point of using tiny bits of tape to balance the tail rotor... I never had a more vibe- free heli in my entire life. Later, the RX burned up in a puff of smoke, which forced me to replace it. With a new RX all problems went away...

I have read mulitiple posts of people having similar servo creep issues with the RX...

On my V120D01, I ordered a replacement swash, but the new swash would come apart. I needed to CA the bearing to together to keep it from coming apart in flight.

Don't get me wrong, I really like the V120D02S and also the V120D01, but I needed to spend MONTHS researching to find these models. Walkera has relased a whole bunch of other dud models that are plagued with chronic design problems -- just in the 120 line--V120D03, V120D05, M120D01... and don't forget the first version of the V120D02 (V1)... for the new guy coming in the odds that he'll make a purchase he will regret are pretty high.

Let's put it this way-- I trust Walkera about as far as I can fly with the balance adjust switch turned off...

I love the way you put things in perspective. I am a great fan of your eloquent writing.

Keeps smiling Walkera likes us idiots.

Thanks Zvok! You always have positive things t' say regardless of what you're discussing. I wish a little more of "you" would rub off a little more on "me"! I can easily become too "woe is me" if I don't watch it. In terms of "eloquence", I suspect I routinely cross over between "War and Peace" and "windbag" and either one's been known t' bore people t' tears!

Thanks Zvok! You always have positive things t' say regardless of what you're discussing. I wish a little more of "you" would rub off a little more on "me"! I can easily become too "woe is me" if I don't watch it. In terms of "eloquence", I suspect I routinely cross over between "War and Peace" and "windbag" and either one's been known t' bore people t' tears!

You know what to all those folks who are Walkera haters who complain about stability of the Helis of Walkera.

It does not matter what the haters think. I've flown helis without any stability controls for the last 12 years, I have been flying RC planes when 72 Mhz radios were the trend.

To all the Walker operators, Do what makes you happy, if you can fly the RC aircraft that now one else likes to fly, more power to you in mastering it. You will gain more skills in flying it them with quarks.

I like Walkera, so far it is the only product that has not failed me yet for the last 15 years. I fly my Mini Ultra Stick with a Walkera radio, as well my QRX350 with a Devo F7 (no complaints) with a gimbal and camera.

My most reliable helis are the V120D02S-V2 and V200D03. Easy to maintain and upgrade with better electronics if desired.
I really like scale birds and added a 4F200LM and Pandora Warrior to the fleet. Both certainly look the part and are quite unique in this price segment.
To me Walkera presents value for money and are certainly on par or better than their competitors.
I started with Blade products but just spent too much time/money to keep them in the air (especially the 130X).
I haven't ventured into anything with more than 500mm main rotor diameter due to space restrictions so the offerings are restricted. The new Oxy3 looks interesting but may be a bit too large. The 180CFX is certainly an option but let's wait and see about durability.
So Walkera it is for the foreseeable future, no angst here!

Thanks for the heads-up, Chief. I a starting with a 120 for a reason. I just want something I can use to get my stick-fingers back. When it comes time to get a 450/500-ish sized heli I can always get another Trex500 but at least then I will have a nice TX that I am familiar with.

The only follow-up question I have is how do these things handle the wind?? My Trex500 was ok in a light breeze, but that was 6 years ago and it wasn't flybarless. I know things have changed a lot and have no idea how the new 6-axis gyros and no flybar affects things like wind resistance.

Saw this thread pulled back up to the top. Despite my angst, I am *still* flying the same V120D02S as I was when this thread started!!! Still the best bird for my back yard...

Chief

Chief, I'm glad you wrote this. I've been looking at the V120D02S for years but just couldn't pull the trigger. With all the new helis out there such as WLToys, XK, and Hisky, do you think the little Walkera's such as the Master CP and the V120D02S are still good birds?